1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an electrostatic charge image developing carrier, an electrostatic charge image developer, a developer cartridge, a process cartridge, an image forming apparatus, and an image forming method.
2. Related Art
Electrophotography in which image information is visualized through electrostatic charge images is currently being used in a variety of fields. As the electrophotography of the related art, a method is generally used in which an electrostatic latent image is formed on a photoreceptor or an electrostatic recording member using a variety of units, and electroscopic fine particles, which are referred to as a toner, are adhered to the electrostatic latent image, thereby developing and visualizing the electrostatic charge image. The developer used herein is roughly classified into a two-component developer in which both supporting particles referred to as a carrier and toner particles are mutually rubbed and charged, thereby supplying an appropriate amount of positive or negative charge and a single-component developer in which a toner alone is used, such as a magnetic toner. Particularly, the two-component developer is being widely used since the carrier itself is provided with functions of stirring, transportation, charge supply, and the like, and functions required for a developer can be separated so that the design is easy.
In recent years, since there has been a demand for full colorization and quality improvement of images formed using an image forming apparatus in which electrophotography is employed, an increase in speed, and long-term stability of the process, an increasing number of studies have been made regarding a decrease in the size of particles in a toner, equalization of charge amount, and stabilization of charge amount in order to improve image quality. As the size of particles in the toner decreases, studies are being conducted regarding a decrease in the size of particles in the carrier as well, and a variety of studies are being conducted regarding resin compositions of a carrier-coating layer, and the like for uniformity or stabilization of the charge amount.